City crash leaves two dead

Two women are dead following a collision between a car and a tractor-trailer on the Charlottetown bypass highway Wednesday afternoon. A third woman, who was driving the car, was rushed from the scene to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with undetermined injuries.The collision occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. at the intersection of the arterial highway and Malpeque Road, near the Sears mall.

The force of the collision took the vehicles a few hundred feet from the intersection, with the tractor-trailer coming to rest partially off the highway.
One of the dozens of fire, ambulance and police personnel on the scene described the scene as horrific.

“We don’t usually see it this bad,’’ said the emergency service provider.
Deputy Police Chief Richard Collins said it appears the collision took place in the intersection.
“You can see the point of impact here at the (traffic) lights,’’ Collins said at the scene. “It’s obvious something went awry and the two vehicles collided in the intersection.’’
Collins said police know the tractor-trailer was travelling east on the arterial highway towards Mount Edward Road at the time of the collision but it wasn’t clear which direction the car was travelling.

“Whether the car was westbound and turning or southbound and turning, we don’t know at this point and time.’’ One woman, who was killed in the front passenger seat, was described by police as a woman in her mid-20s. The other woman killed was sitting in the back seat and described as in her mid-40s.

Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to extract the woman sitting in the back seat, who was pinned by the force of the collision. The male driver of the tractor-trailer, which had Nova Scotia plates, was not injured. Police were asking the media not to identify the make of the car until next of kin were notified. Dr. Charles Trainor, the province’s chief coroner, was at the scene as were two police traffic analysts and an accident reconstructionist.

“That indicates the severity of it,’’ Collins said.
Both Charlottetown fire department stations responded to the crash with emergency vehicles and fire apparatus. Debris from both vehicles, light standards and street signage littered the ground for hundreds of feet.

Police sealed off a large radius around the accident site for most of the afternoon, blocking traffic at Mount Edward Road-arterial highway, University Avenue and Malpeque Road, Sherwood Road and Malpeque Road, as well as the arterial highway and Upton Road.
Collins said it could take a while to determine exactly what happened.
“This is going to take a while to do,’’ the deputy chief said.

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Smoking ban angers truckers

Alberta truck drivers are angry the province's new smoking ban prevents them from lighting up on the job because it considers work vehicles workplaces. Many say the new legislation is an unenforceable violation of their rights.

"I think it's insane," said Don Sayers, a long-haul driver who frequently crisscrosses Alberta. "I respect people that don't smoke, but that's my home. I'm on the road sometimes for three weeks, a month and a half."According to the legislation, known as Bill 45, employees of trucking companies can't smoke in their cabs, even if used sporadically or if they contain a sleeper.

The legislation, however, applies not only to trucks, but to all company vehicles, government vehicles and private industry vehicles: any vehicle that can be shared by more than a single employee.

Fines for those who violate the legislation range from $1,000 to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 to $100,000 for companies.

Sayers said it's often impossible and unsafe for drivers to stop and smoke along highways, and said most drivers voluntarily butt out when sharing cabs with non-smokers.

"It's an infringement on my rights," Sayers said. "This smoking thing has gotten out of hand."

"It affects anybody in a commercial vehicle, really, because you can't smoke anywhere," said Michael Samuels, a Calgary-based driver lighting up outside the Road King truck stop Friday night.

According to the Tobacco Reduction Act, which came into effect Jan. 1, a workplace includes all or any part of a building, structure or other enclosed area in which employees perform their duties, including work vehicles.

Work vehicles are any vehicle owned or leased by an employer and used by employees during the course of their job.

It does not include owner-operator Murray Schrader's semi, however, which he alone operates and which he uses to haul produce between here and California.

"This is my home and no one can tell me what to do in my home," said Schrader, smoking, from the cab of his rig at the Nisku 24-hour truck stop near Edmonton.

That sentiment is shared by his colleagues, said Schrader, whether they own their vehicles or not.

Schrader said the majority of long-haul truckers smoke out of habit, and to battle the fatigue that can come with the solitude of long hours spent on the road, which can be as much as 13 hours at a stretch.

With deadlines and schedules to meet, he said, added stops for cigarette breaks are going to affect production in an industry that's grappling with an escalating shortage of commercial drivers.

According to Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, the new law makes sense.

"It's a confined space and that means people are at an increased risk of exposure to second-hand smoke," Hagen said.

"It's a safety issue and smoking while driving is an additional safety risk."

Hagen said he believes companies should help hold their employees responsible to the new regulations.

"There may be some enforcement challenges, but I also believe that most people are law abiding," he said.Source

Big biofuel plant planned in Canada

A small town in Alberta, Canada, will soon be home to what’s being called the “world’s largest” biofuel refinery.

According to media reports, the 300-million-gallon-a-year plant will be built in Innisfail, which is located about 70 miles north of Calgary on Highway 2.

The partners in the project – Riverstone Holdings, the Carlyle Group and Dominion Energy – plan to break ground next year. Once it’s up and running, the plant will produce both bio-diesel and ethanol, as well as crushed canola.

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